texfile <- "\\caption[SOME WORDS]"
## -> \caption[\textit{SOME WORDS}]
texfile <-gsub('\\Q\\caption[\\E\\K([^][]*)]','\\\\textit{\\1}]', texfile, perl=TRUE)
cat(texfile)
dGV4ZmlsZSA8LSAiXFxjYXB0aW9uW1NPTUUgV09SRFNdIgojIyAtPiBcY2FwdGlvbltcdGV4dGl0e1NPTUUgV09SRFN9XQp0ZXhmaWxlIDwtZ3N1YignXFxRXFxjYXB0aW9uW1xcRVxcSyhbXl1bXSopXScsJ1xcXFx0ZXh0aXR7XFwxfV0nLCB0ZXhmaWxlLCBwZXJsPVRSVUUpCmNhdCh0ZXhmaWxlKQ==